West Australian Education Minister
Peter Collier
is predicting a union backlash from the federal government’s push to give more autonomy to 25 per cent of Australia’s public schools.

Federal Education Minister
­Christopher Pyne
said on Monday he had support from nearly all state and territory governments for a $70 million program to offer state schools ­one-off funding to help become ­independent public schools.

“Unions don’t like it because it puts decision making, in terms of staffing, into the hands of principals," Mr Collier said.

Mr Collier, who introduced independent public schools to Western Australia four years ago, said the ability for principals to make staff appointments created a more competitive ­system that could eventually push poor teachers out of the system or encourage them to improve.

“It has the capacity to do that and will put pressure on a teacher who might need to lift his or her game," he said.